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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25085539">Obstacle Course</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BubblyDove/pseuds/BubblyDove'>BubblyDove</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stargate Atlantis</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Ancient Technology, First Kiss, First Time, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Panic Attacks, Post-Canon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 04:28:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,644</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25085539</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BubblyDove/pseuds/BubblyDove</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>John is bored, and Rodney finds something in the Ancients' database that could help with that. Only, some things don't go as expected. What started as a simple game becomes a bigger problem than they had thought.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Rodney McKay/John Sheppard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>49</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Obstacle Course</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Sheppard to McKay.”</p><p>John was in his office <em>trying </em>to do paperwork. He sat in his chair with his feet up on the desk and the latest mission’s report resting in his thigh. He’d been at it for the last thirty minutes and nothing came to mind when he tried to come up with what to put on it, so he decided to pester Rodney was his next best option.</p><p>“This is McKay,” he replied.</p><p>“Hey, Rodney. What are you doing?”</p><p>“Well, John, some of us have real work to do, and if <em>people</em> are always disrupting me, guess what? Nothing ever gets done.” John tried not to smile at that, but it was such a Rodney thing to say, he couldn’t help it.</p><p>“So, you wouldn’t mind if I went by to visit, then.”</p><p>“Whatever.” But John could hear the excitement in his voice by now, so he was fairly sure he had found something interesting that most probably John would like to see too.</p><p>“Be there in five. Sheppard out.”</p><p>Walking through Atlantis’ corridors, John saw all the new faces they had taken with them when they returned to the Pegasus Galaxy. It had already been a month, and the people who felt this was their home couldn’t be happier. But as always, the new people - scientists and military alike - couldn’t understand what they had to do to get them to the Pegasus they were at right now. Some of them would judge the decisions made by the Senior Staff, and the people making those decisions.</p><p>He couldn’t help but feel protective towards Rodney. Every day, he heard people talking about him, and not in a good way. Rodney had saved them so many times that he couldn’t do <em>nothing.</em> So, whenever he heard something, he would say his piece.</p><p>He had better places to be right now, though, so he paid no mind to anyone, saluted a couple of the new military personnel – he had to keep them on their toes – and went straight to the main lab, but not before taking a muffin from the mess hall first.</p><p>The first thing he noticed was that Zelenka was alone.</p><p>“Umm, hey Dr. Z,” he was a little surprised not to find Rodney in his lab, he hadn’t even thought about asking him where he was, thinking he would be working in the main lab, as he always did at this time of the day. “You wouldn’t happen to know where Rodney is, right?”</p><p>“Well, hello Colonel, Dr. Pain in my Ass is in new lab in West Pier, he thinks he found important thing in database and went to investigate.” The exasperation in his voice was a testament to how Rodney had probably not been in the lab all morning, placing all the day’s problems on Zelenka’s shoulders while he was off to have fun with new ancient tech.</p><p>“OK then, thanks, Radek.” Again, off he went.</p><p>At that point, his mind started wandering off to the last month with Rodney. Since returning to Pegasus, John and Rodney had decided to start a new tradition, to hang out whenever they were free after finishing their shifts. They took turns on deciding what they’d do that day. They had not been able to hang out for a couple of days, but today they were supposedly free, as long as nothing came up.</p><p>Last time they hang out, it had been John’s time to choose their plan for the night. He had decided on a movie in his room. They had been sitting in his bed, with his laptop sitting in his thighs and the movie playing. He had chosen that specific movie because he knew Rodney would feel the need to comment on the impossible physics going on.</p><p>As the movie moved along, John had risked moving nearer to Rodney. He practically plastered himself to Rodney’s side, their shoulders and thighs touching. Rodney had looked at him, his face a little bit flushed, but he hadn’t said anything. John had never felt so happy, but he still craved for more.</p><p>At last, he reached the lab Rodney was at. The room was small, in one of the corners stood a console, currently active and with Rodney analyzing the data in his tablet. The rest of the room was empty, which was quite usual in the ancient labs, but still surprised John.</p><p>“Hey, Rodney,” John couldn’t help but smile at the small yelp that escaped Rodney’s mouth.</p><p>“Dammit, was it really necessary to give me a heart attack? What would you do without me, huh? That’s right, you wouldn’t even last a day!” His amused look betrayed his words, and John smiled even harder.</p><p>“Well, at least you wouldn’t complain whenever we had to walk more than five minutes off-world.”</p><p>Rodney looked up from the tablet to direct his annoyed glare at him. “I just don’t understand why we can’t take one of the jumpers if the natives are far from the gate, that’s all.”</p><p>“We have talked about that Rodney; we don’t want first-time visits to turn south just because they think we have cool toys. So, we walk. You can pretend is team bonding if you want.” John laughed at the face Rodney pulled.</p><p>“We spend so much time together everything is team bonding at this point.”</p><p>“Whatever McKay. Here, I brought you a muffin.”</p><p>“Oh, umm, thanks, John.”</p><p>“Nah, it’s nothing, I have to feed the most intelligent person in two galaxies, right? So, what got you so excited about this place that you didn’t even take anyone with you?”</p><p>“It seems that the ancients used this lab to store information about the Jumpers. Now, according to this database, somewhere in the city there is a kind of Jumper training facility,” a proud smile appeared in his face.</p><p>“Really? That’s the coolest thing ever!” John felt ecstatic, it was time they found something even remotely interesting. “So where is it?”</p><p>“It’s on the pier. There is a code you have to introduce in the control panel that’s by the door. I hadn’t even thought about investigating what the panel was for, but it seems it’s for the Jumper training, with different commands to go from a low level to a more expert one.”</p><p>“We have to try it, like <em>now. </em>Let me talk to Woolsey,” with that, John reached for his comms. “Woolsey, this is Sheppard. I’m in the West Pier with McKay. He found information on a Jumper training facility that is located here.”</p><p>
  <em>Colonel, aren’t you supposed to be writing your missing reports? I recall asking you to finish them since you are running behind.</em>
</p><p>"Yes, umm, I’ll finish them after checking the Jumper thing.”</p><p>
  <em>You better finish them before the day is through. Who’s going with you?</em>
</p><p>“You’ll have them on your desk before you know it. We were thinking of going alone.”</p><p>
  <em>Very well, report once you get there.</em>
</p><p>“Of course, sir. Sheppard out.”</p><p>Rodney looked up from the console. “We got the go-ahead then?” asked Rodney.</p><p>“Yep. Let’s go then. Jumper training facility here we go!” The boyish glee was obvious in his voice.</p><p>Rodney couldn’t help but laugh at the excitement in his face. He disconnected his tablet and exited the lab. They walked side by side, throwing ideas back and forth about what the training thing would be like.</p><p>“I’m just saying, it could be a VR kind of thing,” John said.</p><p>“Yes, well, what would be the point of it being in the pier if it could be done in the lab I found, huh? It must be something that you need to be there for,” Rodney countered.</p><p>“Good point.”</p><p>Once they arrived, Rodney connected his tablet to the control panel.</p><p>“Woolsey, we’re at the pier, McKay is entering the code necessary to access the facility right now,” John reported.</p><p>
  <em>Very well Colonel, keep me posted from now on.</em>
</p><p>“Yes, sir. Sheppard out.”</p><p>The moment he turned to where Rodney was, the pier’s floor started to shake. The floor parted at the end of the pier, the same way the roof of the Jumper Bay did, and a Jumper appeared.</p><p>Rodney’s and John’s eyes widened, clearly stunned.</p><p>“Well, I certainly did not expect <em>that</em>,” John mumbled. He spun around and found Rodney typing on his tablet. “What are you doing Rodney?” John looked over his shoulder, trying to see what he was doing.</p><p>“I’m trying to figure out what buttons to push so that we can see what this so-called facility can do.” He kept on typing, and a few minutes later he cheered. “Got it!”</p><p>He inputted the new code in the tablet, and a few seconds later something started to move under the water. A ring emerged and stopped once it was fully out. There seemed to be multiple rings scattered in the water, with different twists and turns.</p><p>“Neat,” said John. “It looks like some type of obstacle course to me. What do you say, Rodney?”</p><p>“Yeah, it does look like it is.” Rodney looked at his tablet again and told John there were many other settings available, but that one seemed like the easy type, one they could probably test right then.</p><p>“Maybe it would be best if we used one of the Jumpers from the Jumper Bay, seeing as we don’t know anything about this one,” said John.</p><p>“I’ll look at this one, it would take more time to have someone bring a Jumper than it would for me to run a couple of tests and see how it does.”</p><p>“Good enough for me,” John shrugged. “As long as it fares well, I don’t care.”</p><p>After a while inspecting the Jumper, Rodney dictated it was good to go. So, John sat at the pilot’s seat with Rodney at his right and took off.</p><p>The rings were easy to do, and while Rodney gathered data, John felt confident enough to do a couple of flips. The way Rodney yelped was worth it.</p><p>They finished that track, and Rodney chose another setting. This one had some tunnels that were underwater, and some very sharp turns, which led John to believe this setting was one of those Rodney tagged as ‘difficult’.</p><p>For a while, everything seemed to go well, even though some of the turns were difficult and maneuvering underwater was more intimidating, John took it all in stride. But, when they were about to go through the fourth underwater tunnel, all the Jumper’s lights went off. John couldn’t pilot it, and the water was fast approaching. He looked at Rodney and saw the terrified look on his face. When he turned to look through the windshield, everything turned to darkness.</p><hr/><p>John came to with a start. A groan came from his right, and that startled him enough to open his eyes. There Rodney sat, with blood dripping off his forehead and nose.</p><p>“Rodney?”</p><p>“Fuuuck…” Rodney let out another groan and opened his eyes. “What happened?”</p><p>“It looks like we crashed into the water. I remember flying towards the fourth tunnel when the lights went off. I lost control of the jumper and next thing I know here we are,” John tried laughing, to relax Rodney, but the sound came out weak even to his ears.</p><p>“Oh no. No, no, no, no. Not again. Is this another hallucination? Are we dead?” The blood pounded in his ears. His heart thudded in his chest. His hands shook. His vision disfigured as if he were looking through a fish-eye lens. He had to get away. He couldn’t stay in the Jumper.</p><p>“Hey, Rodney, breath buddy, breath. Focus on my breathing and try to match it, ‘kay?” All John could think about was that if Rodney ended up passing out, he would not be able to get Rodney out of there, and the thought terrified him. “I need you to calm down Rodney. You were right, what would I do without you? I need you to stay with me.”</p><p>He reached his hand out, trying to see whether his touch was welcome or not. Before he touched him, Rodney threw himself at him and pulled him into a hug. His hands gripped his shirt, and John run his hand up and down his back, trying to comfort him.</p><p>After a while, Rodney’s breathing came back to normal, but the shaking hadn’t stopped, and his fists remained clenched. John could feel the rapid pulse against his chest, where he was pressed against him.</p><p>“That’s it, buddy, take it easy. Isn’t that better?” some relief could be seen in John’s face when he was sure Rodney was not going to pass out.</p><p>“I- I’m s- sorry,” Rodney’s voice trembled, and he couldn’t look at John’s eyes. He licked his lips and drew in a deep breath. “It’s just- I can’t-,” he huffed, he couldn’t think clearly, and he couldn’t put his thoughts into words.</p><p>“Hey, it’s okay, I get it. You have already been in this situation and it scares you. Hell, it scares the shit out of me, too. But this time it’s different isn’t it?” Finally, Rodney looked at him. “You have me. You are not alone, I’m here. And I can promise you I’m not a hallucination.”</p><p>“Right.”</p><p>They remained in silence for a few minutes, but then again, John could feel his pants getting wet, which reminded him they were currently underwater and without any power.</p><p>“Rodney? How are you feeling buddy?” He hesitated, was it a good idea to bring attention to the fact that the water was coming into the Jumper? He had to tell him though, they needed to figure out how to get out of there. “We need to start thinking about how to get out of here, the water is starting to come in, and it would be best if we got out of here as fast as possible.”</p><p>“Yeah, o- okay. Let me just…” he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and when he opened them again, John could see the determination behind his fear.</p><p>“How about this? I’m going to try and contact the control room and you try to get the Jumper operational again, okay? We are going to need to fly this thing out of the water if possible. At least, that would be the best option, since getting someone to come get us out would take more time.”</p><p>“That’s fine. I can do that.” John could hear the insecurity behind those words, but right now he needed him to focus, and he needed to contact the control room.</p><p>“Okay, buddy.” John reached for his comms. “This is Sheppard, can anybody read me?” static could be heard. A few seconds passed and no answer came. John was starting to worry, but when he reached for his comms again a voice came through.</p><p>
  <em>Colonel, this is Chuck, is everything all right?</em>
</p><p>“Chuck, buddy, it’s great to hear your voice,” a relieved breath left him. “So, remember we were investigating the West Pier?”</p><p>
  <em>Yes, sir, I remember.</em>
</p><p>“Well, let’s just say things didn’t go as planned, and now we are trapped in a Jumper,” he paused for a second. “Underwater.”</p><p>
  <em>Sir? Did I hear that correctly? Did you say you were in a Jumper? Underwater?</em>
</p><p>“Yep, exactly.”</p><p>The silence stretched for a few more seconds.</p><p>
  <em>Sir, I’ve contacted your team and Major Lorne. They are getting ready to go help you but it's going to take a while. Dr. Zelenka is getting ready Jumper 2 with the extended shield you used to help Dr. McKay last time.</em>
</p><p>“Thanks, Chuck. Let’s hope they get here on time, the water is already at ankle level. I’m going to turn my comms off to preserve battery, I’ll connect them again in thirty minutes to check with you again. Rodney is trying to get the Jumper going right now, so luckily we’ll be able to do that.”</p><p>
  <em>Very well, sir, I’ll get all the scientists working on that, see if they can help you out.</em>
</p><p><em>"</em>Sheppard out.”</p><p>He looked at Rodney, and even though he was focused on his tablet, he could see an anxious look on his eyes. He kept entering codes and inspecting the control conduits in the rear compartment, though without power, it was of little use. He could see when Rodney gave up, the resignation clear on his face.</p><p>“So… What do you say?” John asked. He already knew the answer, but needed Rodney to confirm it, before he had another panic attack.</p><p>“Nothing. I got nothing. I can’t work on anything without power, and since we don’t have any of that, we are done for. We are going to die here!” his voice raised with each sentence he said, and his breathing and pulse quickened.</p><p>“Okay. That’s fine, we’ll just have to wait for our friends to help us out.” He put his hand on Rodney’s shoulder, could feel him relax some. “I’m going to talk to Chuck about this little setback, ‘kay?”</p><p>“Go ahead, don’t let me stop you,” he emphasized this with a hand motion. That, more than the words let John know he would be okay, a gesturing McKay was an everything-will-be-all-right McKay.</p><p>“Sheppard to control room. Anyone copy me?”</p><p>
  <em>Go ahead, Colonel.</em>
</p><p>“We’re still powerless. Nothing can be done on our side, so we are at your mercy guys,” the uneasiness was clear on his voice.</p><p>
  <em>Copy that, Dr. Zelenka is finishing with the converting of the cloak to shield. ETA 10 minutes.</em>
</p><p>“Copy that. Sheppard out.” While talking to Chuck, John had noticed the spacey look on Rodney’s face. He had started to sway a little bit in place. “Rodney? When did you last eat?” Worriedly John reached for his arm to stop the swaying.</p><p>“What?” Rodney didn’t seem to be able to focus on him. “Umm, breakfast?”</p><p>“That was almost 4 hours ago!” The worried tone increased. “You didn’t eat the muffin I got you, did you?” He didn’t give him time to answer. “Where is it, Rodney? You need to eat something before you pass out.”</p><p>“What’s the point? At least I wouldn’t be panicking if I was passed out,” said Rodney. “I wouldn’t be such a burden,” he whispered.</p><p>“You are not a burden,” protested John. “I would be worried sick if you were passed out, so would you <em>please</em> at least for my sanity tell me where it is so you can eat it?”</p><p>The word ‘please’ made Rodney in. “I left it in the cockpit, in the seat behind mine.”</p><p>With a relieved sigh he got up and picked the muffing up from the seat. When he went back to Rodney, he had closed his eyes. John shook his shoulder and once he opened his eyes, he handed the muffin over. With a thankful though bashful look, he opened it and bit into it. The appreciative noises that came out of his mouth made John fidget. John rarely let himself get distracted like that, it usually led to the urge to do stupid things when no one else was around.</p><p>He thought he’d have to shift to make things more comfortable – and less obvious – but, just then, the comms caught a transmission.</p><p>
  <em>Colonel, this is Lorne. We are approaching your last known location. We are scanning the area to see if we can find you.</em>
</p><p>John silently mouthed, “Saved by the bell”. “Hey Lorne, good to hear your voice. I suppose my team is there with you.”</p><p>
  <em>We are here John. Do not worry, you will be seeing us in no time.</em>
</p><p>Along with Teyla’s voice, a groan could be heard. The liberation John felt was beyond belief. He sat next to Rodney, their shoulders touching and let himself relax for the first time since all of this began.</p><p>He could smell Rodney, and he smelled good, like the spice-scented soap the Athosians made. He clenched his hands. Unfortunately, his attention turned immediately to the windshield. There could be seen some cracks in it. Well, that killed the mood.</p><p>“Umm, Lorne? You’ll want to speed it up,” gulped John. “The windshield is starting to show cracks, the pressure must be raising.”</p><p>
  <em>Copy that, sir. We are doing everything as fast as we can. The scan has just finished. We got your location, we are entering the water. Hold on, ETA 3 minutes.</em>
</p><p>“Hurry up, water is at knee level now. Sheppard out.”</p><p>Rodney looked at the windshield worryingly, his face growing paler by the second. Fearing a second panic attack, he pulled Rodney into a hug, he run his right hand through his thinning hair and his left hand up and down his back. Once he relaxed, the mood changed.</p><p>The air between the warmed and Rodney found himself drawn to John’s eyes. He couldn’t stop himself from leaning forward again, to press his mouth against John’s. He felt John’s indrawn breath sweep across his lips and started to pull back, and then the gentle pressure and soft, tentative movement was returned.</p><p>John let his tongue tease against Rodney’s, and he opened to him immediately. A groan escaped John’s throat and he tightened his hold on Rodney. In response, Rodney’s hand slid up his back, one of them threading through his hair, which he used to draw John’s head closer.</p><p>They kissed hungrily, desperation clear on their faces. It was then that a loud crack was heard loud enough to startle them into breaking apart. Breathing heavily, he forced himself to get some distance between them. “Umm…”</p><p>Rodney looked surprised, looking down at his hands like he didn’t understand what they had been doing.</p><p>“That was…”</p><p>“Yeah,” Rodney agreed breathlessly.</p><p>John crossed his arms over his chest and looked warily at Rodney. Rodney looked up from his hands, meeting John’s gaze, his expression full of desire. That showed John that whatever had happened was not due to their current situation, but that they had been building up to this since they came back.</p><p>“We should probably talk,” he hesitated.</p><p>“Yeah, we should,” Rodney reassured. “But not here.” His eyes narrowed, fixing at a point through the windshield. “John? Is that a Jumper?”</p><p>John turned to look. Against the dark, a black shape could be seen getting closer to their position. John would know that anywhere. “Yes, it is,” John agreed with a relieved sigh. “Looks like Lorne found us.”</p><p>“Oh, thank god!” Rodney beamed. “I didn’t relish the idea of drowning today,” he glanced over at John.</p><p>“Neither did I, Rodney, neither did I.”</p><p>It was not long after that Lorne contacted them.</p><p>
  <em>Sir, we are approaching your Jumper. Dr. Zelenka advises you not to touch anything before he tells you to. Right now, we are trying to position our jumper at your level with our rear hatch facing yours as close as possible so that you can step to our Jumper once we are in position.</em>
</p><p>“Copy that Lorne. Not touching anything ‘till you give us permission,” John smiled and looked at Rodney, who was also pleased about the turn of events.</p><p>A minute later the Jumper was close enough to extend the shield to their Jumper, and once they were given the go-ahead by Zelenka, they opened the rear hatch and stepped to the other one. Ronon and Teyla were waiting with blankets already unfurled and John and Rodney took them, wrapped up, and sat down opposite each other on the benches.</p><p>“Hey guys,” said John with a little wave. “Thanks for coming to our rescue.” Even though his tone was joking, the gratefulness was clear.</p><p>“Of course, we could not let you have fun alone, could we?” with a raised eyebrow and a smirk Teyla looked at both of them, previous signs of concern gone. At her side, Ronon groaned in confirmation.</p><p>When they reached the tower, the Jumper hatch was lowering and a medical team was waiting for them. Carson clucked his tongue in disapproval at the state of their clothes. John might have felt guilty, but this wasn’t even close to the worst of their predicaments. At least he <em>had </em>clothes this time, even though they were wet. He walked to the infirmary, not letting Carson put him in a wheelchair. Rodney seemed to have the same idea since he didn’t let Carson’s disapproving face deter him.</p><p>Once in the infirmary, John insisted Rodney be examined first, and he sat on a gurney to wait.</p><p>“So, I understand ye went for a swim, Colonel?” Carson said lightly. He’d finished with Rodney and was preparing the scanner for him.</p><p>He shot Rodney a knowing grin, “Well, not so much a swim as getting wet feet and knees,” he huffed a laugh. “The water was damn cold, so not much fun.”</p><p>“Well, lads, ye’re both fine. Both of the scans came back clear and I’ll run yer labs to make sure there were nae harmful microbes in the water. I recommend a hot shower and a good night’s sleep.”</p><p>Rodney complained about filing a complaint if they ended up catching some kind of alien cholera. Carson just took it in stride and told him to suck it up and get some rest.</p><p>John leaped down from the gurney. “You got it, Doc.”</p><hr/><p>When he reached his quarters, John jumped into the shower right away, the chill that ran through him getting lost in the heat of the water. He stood there for a long time, just letting the heat surround him. When he got out of the shower his skin was flushed and his hands pruned. He dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, the comfort necessary after that day’s stress.</p><p>When John’s door chime sounded ten minutes later, John knew who was on the other side. The hesitation to enter was evidence of the uneasiness Rodney felt about all of this.</p><p>John got up and waved the door open, Rodney looked almost surprised to see him there, as if he was supposed to be somewhere else. “Uh, hi, umm, John. Can I- can I come in?”</p><p>John stepped aside to let Rodney in. When he turned around after the door shut, he found Rodney sitting on his bed, with an apprehensive look on his face.</p><p>“So…” Rodney started. “Umm, I get that what happened in the Jumper was due to stress and unusual circumstances” John nodded but felt his stomach dropping. <em>Shit, </em>Rodney was going to try and brush it off. “And if you want to say that’s all it was, I won’t bother you with this anymore.”</p><p>Or maybe not, “I- it wasn’t <em>only </em>that. I have to admit though, that I wouldn’t have done anything so soon if it weren’t for the shit we were in. But I feel like we were working towards that, at least,” John admitted.</p><p>“Yeah, I’d like to think that too,” a soft look crossed his face. “For the past month you’ve been dropping quite a few hints, haven’t you?” he chuckled. “I suppose I wasn’t brave enough to answer them.”</p><p>“It doesn’t matter anymore, does it? We are here now.” With that, he stepped between Rodney’s legs and bent down to kiss him.</p><p>When their lips met it was nothing like the first one, the desperation wasn’t there anymore, instead, the kiss was soft and searching, both of them trying to show how they felt through it.</p><p>When they stopped for a much-needed break to get some air, John looked into Rodney’s face and saw how tired he was, how draining the experience had been. “Rodney, we have all the time in the world now, but you look like you are going to drop dead any second now. How about we get some sleep, huh?”</p><p>“You’ll be here when I wake up, right?” Rodney asked with a vulnerable expression.</p><p>“Always, buddy. Always.”</p><p>With a soft, happy sigh, he fell asleep.</p>
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